With all the spinoff excitement, Forbes looks ahead at the next brands that might be granted independence by their corporate overlords.
- Ebay(EBAY)’s StubHub. StubHub dominates live event ticket reselling. On the heels of a successful spinoff of PayPal, perhaps Ebay will go back to the well and spin off StubHub.
- Time Warner(TWX)’s HBO. Time Warner is no stranger to spinoffs, having spun off AOL(recently acquired by Verizon(VZ)),Time Warner Cable(TWC), which is being acquired by Charter(CHTR) after a merger with Comcast(CMCSA) was blocked, and even Time Inc.(TIME).Will HBO be next? Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes said no last year.
- McGraw Hill Financial(MHFI)’s index or JD Power unit. McGraw Hill Financial jettisoned its educational publishing business under pressure from Jana Partners. Forbes suggests it now might want to spin off something, though it isn’t clear on exactly what.
- Disney(DIS)’s ESPN/ABC. ESPN is a powerhouse profit center for Disney, but Forbes feels with changes in the broadcast and cable industries, the time may be right for this. Disney did spin off ABC radio back in 2007, but we remain skeptical that Bob Iger would let go of this asset.
- EMC(EMC)’s RSA. EMC has been under pressure from shareholder Elliott Management to spin off its 80% stake in VMware(VMW). Forbes suggest the company might also consider spinning off its RSA security business.
What do you think of these potential spinoffs? What other spinoffs might be in the cards?
Disclosure: The author holds shares in CMCSA and DIS